Rookie Lonzo Ball and the Lakers are scheduled to appear on national television an astounding 35 times next season, including Nov. 15 against Markelle Fultz and the Philadelphia 76ers in the first matchup between the top two picks in June’s draft.

After announcing last week that the Lakers will open the season Oct. 19 against the Clippers and play host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Christmas, the NBA unveiled the rest of the regular-season schedule on Monday.

For the Lakers, highlights of the schedule include home games against the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Nov. 29 and Dec. 18, against the rival Boston Celtics on Jan. 23, and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 11.

The national attention the Lakers are receiving is significant even by their own standards, and much of it can be attributed to Ball. The former UCLA and Chino Hills High star is under a tremendous amount of scrutiny thanks both to dazzling passing skills (his own) and a dizzying hype-man routine (his father’s).

Of the Lakers’ 35 national TV games, 23 are on TNT, ESPN or ABC (the rest are on NBA TV). On the original schedule last season, the Lakers were slated for just 14 such appearances. Only Golden State (43), Houston (40), Cleveland (39) and Oklahoma City (37) have more national appearances.

Many of the Lakers’ matchups will be through the lens of what they mean in the context of Ball’s young career. That will be especially true on Nov. 3, when the Lakers play host to the Brooklyn Nets. It will mark Ball’s first game against D’Angelo Russell, the player the Lakers drafted No. 2 overall in 2015 and whom they traded away to clear room for Ball two days before this year’s draft.

Reigning Most Valuable Player Russell Westbrook and All-Star Paul George – both of whom, like James, are expected to be top targets of the Lakers next summer in free agency and potential beneficiaries of Ball’s passes – will visit Staples Center with Oklahoma City on Jan. 18 and Feb. 8.

With Coach Luke Walton in his second year at the helm, the Lakers will look to improve on the 26 games they won last season. They drafted Ball to replace Russell, who was sent to the Nets (along with Timofey Mozgov) for former All-Star center Brook Lopez; signed guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a one-year, $18 million contract; and drafted forward Kyle Kuzma and guard Josh Hart at the back end of the first round.

Ball was named the MVP of the NBA’s Summer League in Las Vegas while Kuzma was named to the tournament’s second team.

When the regular season begins, the Lakers will play 13 back-to-backs, including New Year’s Eve in Houston and the next night, Jan. 1, in Minnesota. That number is down from 16 back-to-backs a season ago, a decline which aligns with the league office’s efforts to increase the number of days between games and discourage teams resting players.

The league also eliminated stretches of teams playing four games in five nights.

The Lakers will play no back-to-backs on their longest trip of the season, which includes veteran center Brook Lopez’s first game in Brooklyn against the Nets, the team with which he spent the first nine years of his career.

The Lakers will visit Barclays Center on Feb. 2, the fourth of five games over the course of 10 nights. Other stops on the trip are in Chicago, Toronto, Orlando and in Oklahoma City.

Last season, the longest trip encompassed seven games over 12 days, including three back-to-backs.

The Lakers will play just three games at home between Jan. 23 and March 5, although Staples Center will be home to All-Star Weekend Feb. 16-18.

The longest homestand will consist of five games in nine days from Jan. 3-11.

Among the stiffest challenges for the Lakers will be an 11-game stretch over 20 days in December and early January.

They conclude a four-game trip through the East in Cleveland on Dec. 14, a contest that will be broadcast on TNT. Following that, nine of the Lakers’ next 10 games will be against teams that reached the Western Conference playoffs last season.

The exception will come Christmas Day against a Minnesota team that added All-NBA guard Jimmy Butler and former All-Star point guard Jeff Teague to an already exciting young roster.

ROSTER MOVE

The Lakers on Monday signed guard Briante Weber to a training camp contract, making him the 20th player on the team’s preseason roster. Weber, 24, is in his third NBA season and appeared in 20 games last year with Golden State and Charlotte, averaging 3.1 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists.

Bill Oram covers the Los Angeles Lakers for the Southern California News Group. He covered the Utah Jazz for the Salt Lake Tribune. He is the (usually) bearded guy in the background wearing a University of Montana hat.